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News 18th May 2007
New Acquisition:
Mainstream is delighted to have acquired world rights to MA! HE SOLD ME FOR A FEW CIGARETTES. The title is self-explanatory but although the author graphically describes the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her step-father and others, it is unusually engaging and uplifting. It is the true story of a child who would normally have been crushed by horrendous poverty, neglect and abuse but whose irrepressible spirit enabled her to survive. Martha has a quick wit and wicked sense of humour and captures eloquently the lost world of 1950s Dublin, when the shadow of the Catholic Church loomed large and if you didn't work you didn't eat. Comparable books are ANGELA'S ASHES (over 1m sold) and DON'T EVER TELL (350,000 sold to date) and we are convinced that MA! too will be a bestseller. Bill Campbell bought the book direct from Martha Long for trade paperback publication in Autumn 2007 followed by a mass market edition in 2008. For further information contact fiona.brownlee@mainstreampublishing.com
Rights Sales:
Some good rights deals this month. French rights for ONCE I WAS A PRINCESS have been sold to France (Michel Lafon) and rights for SINCE I WAS A PRINCESS have been sold to Spain (Planeta) with an offer still on the table from an Italian publisher. It has now been sold in almost every major territory apart from the US where it is on submission with several publishers who met the charismatic author at the London Book Fair.
DON'T EVER TELL has been sold to Japan (Sheisha Ltd). It is proving to be a great success internationally as well as in the home market.
WHITE CARGO has just been sold to the US (NYU Press). Interestingly Rights Director at Mainstream, Fiona Brownlee, first pitched the book to Eric Zinner of NYU while floating in the Dead Sea during the Jerusalem Fellowship programme!
Finally END OF TIME has been sold to Poland (Amber) and GHOSTLY TALES to the Czech Republic (Mlada Fronta).
Serial Rights:
Serial rights for THE OTHER MRS JORDAN have just been sold to The Guardian to run on 26 May.
Publicity:
The campaign for THE OTHER MRS JORDAN by Mary Turner Thomson is set to be amazing, in addition to serial in The Guardian, national interviews will run in the Daily Express and the Independent on Sunday, a piece in SHE magazine, an interview in New! magazine, and interviews on ITV1's This Morning and BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour. A half-hour documentary has also been made with Mary as part of the 'Jon Ronson on...' series for BBC Radio 4, which will be broadcast just before publication.
With double-page interviews in The Sun and Woman magazine, Jacqueline Pascarl's moving memoir, SINCE I WAS A PRINCESS, continues to receive great coverage.
WHITE CARGO, by Don Jordan and Michael Walsh, has also received some fantastic reviews, with The Times describing it as "An eye-opening and heart-rending story" and The Sunday Telegraph's Alasdair Palmer dubbing it "fascinating".
SQUADDIE hasn't stopped getting publicity since the original book came out but the launch of the B-format paperback has resulted in coverage in The Times, The Guardian and The Big Issue. Steven was interviewed in Zoo Magazine, with fantastic pictures and a full credit, and in The Morning Star. Broadcast coverage has included interviews on BBC World Service 's Europe Today Programme, BBC Five Live 's Richard Bacon Show, BBC Five Live 's Jo Figan's Have Your Say, BBC Asian Network and a three-hour slot on Kerrang Radio
THE DENIABLE AGENT has had coverage in Ice Magazine, FHM and Nuts
MURDER IN SAMARKAND continues to get great publicity. The following is a link to author, Craig Murray's interview with David Frost http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/484FE474-02C1-45B8-A2EC-9A68FE0D7F3D.htm
Trade press coverage has also been good. Last week we had rights stories in The Bookseller about new acquisitions, FALLING and BIBLE JOHN'S SECRET DAUGHTER and a lead news story about Gordon Brown's forthcoming book, UNSUNG HEROES . Pre-pub reviews include FINDING MERLIN ('intriguing'), THE DEVIL, THE BOYS FROM BAGHDAD ('gripping stuff') and BLACK FARCE AND CUE BALL WIZARDS ('this is the first choice of any snooker fan this year')
And Finally...
Senior Managing Editor Ailsa Bathgate can barely lift her left hand at the moment, such is the size of the rock on her finger! She has just got engaged to James Annal, Art Director at Harper Collins. Congratulations to them both.